Walking down the halls of La Push high school wearing my favorite gray zebra striped sweatshirt and most worn in pair of faded jeans, you'd think I'd be comfortable after successfully completing three full years here. I watch the floor as I walk and slip my fingers into the pocket of my hoodie knowing exactly where I'm headed by the familiar cracks along the floor. I continue along routinely making the appropriate twists and turns to avoid any unnecessary body contact when I receive a slam to the left shoulder that's hard enough to send me reeling across the hallway. Yeah, totally deliberate. "Shit!" I snap my head around to watch as the perpetrator- obviously attempting to cling onto whats left of a long gone summer clad in a micro mini and flip flops- tosses her bobbed brown tresses and turns with a faux rapidness that suggests she hadn't noticed there was anyone even standing within the same universe as her, let alone in the same vicinity.
"Oops." she gasps with wide eyes, tilting her head to the side and bringing a freshly manicured hand up to cover her gaping mouth. "Did I do that?" her lips pout at me as if to say aw, poor baby. It's not exactly repentant, and I remain increasingly unconvinced by her exaggerated remorse. She's walking backwards now, the pout slipping into a self-fulfilled smirk and her gaggle of friends mimic her every step, retreating at a pace that would make a sloth envious. A pair of one of their boots clip clap against the tiles with each synchronized movements farther and farther away from me, insignificant spec of a human being that I am.
"Brittany." I acknowledge cooly, satisfied immediately when her lips pucker at my disinterested tone, causing my own to twitch up slightly on the right. My shoulder starts tingling like pins and needles.
Her chin juts out as her brown eyes lock with my amused ones. "I'm sorry," she tells me, but by the way her sickly sweet tone causes her neck to constrict and taking into account that her eyes have now narrowed down to slits you can tell the sentiment isn't exactly heartfelt. "Do I know you?" The gaggle giggles and I am suddenly fighting the urge to stick my finger down my throat to show them exactly what I think about how pathetic they all are. I roll my eyes instead. Gag me. I deduce right away that I might as well have yanked a white flag out of my ass and danced a jig around the hallway if her response was any indication, seeing as her nose shot straight up into the air and she grinned at me victoriously before spinning on her heel and sashaying down the hallway, all delivered with such a convincing air of dramatics I half expected her to pivot and take a bow. Hell, I might have even clapped.
Sadly though, this was not your standard romcom staged for your viewing pleasure and formatted to fit your screen, this was my life- and while I often like to entertain the idea that I'm *Jim Halpert and on a whim could look into a waiting camera to let the world know what I'm thinking with just one strategically warped facial expression- that is simply not how things work in reality.
So instead, I laugh. I laugh as my red converse squeak when I do a pivot of my own and continue on my way to class. I laugh harder as I pass through the freshmen hallway where I am on the receiving end of endless what the fuck looks and have to tug my hood farther down my forehead. And I laugh some more when I slump into my assigned seat and learn that today is the day we get to dissect a poor defenseless frog (thus making him the perfect candidate, I suppose) with a scalpel to poke and prod at its organs and my lab partner, Phillis, turns green immediately at the thought of it and precedes to lose her breakfast right then and there, thereupon causing her retainer to dislodge and go sliding across the floor until it's momentum in stopped by none other that Mr. Banner's "three hundred dollar Armani " shoe.
Ah damn. Did I say my school career has been successful? I'm sorry. You have been misinformed. What I meant to say was: I'm Claire, soon to be eighteen, welcome to my senior year; my last year. Thank freaking Geezus.
A/N: So what do you guys think? This is my first twilight story but I've been toying with the idea for a really long time. I know this chapter is short but the next is already longer, and should be up in a day or two, and you get to meet Rory. You might be a little surprised when you get to the end of it, but I hope that won't discourage you. Please leave me a review! Critique, questions, opinions, whatever- I don't care, flame me if you must, just so long as there's feedback! Thank you so much for reading!
*Jim Halpert is a character on the show The Office- probably THE greatest show like... ever.
romcom = romantic comedy.